Ponder

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
-excerpt from The Declaration of Inependence

Its crazy how fast life shoots by us. Sometimes we want to speed through certain parts while other times we wish that we could just sit back and enjoy it. I've found lately that I'm content with the speed my life is traveling, but I'm not really sure why. There's a lot going on in my life yet it's consistent with the same problems, same joys, same hurts and pains.

I've become content with the knowledge that my life is going to happen the way it's been designed to, like everyone else's. That was philosophical I know ha. When I was a kid I remember always looking forward to getting older. I wanted to be an adult, have a job, get married, raise a family of my own and then just keep life rolling. It was what everyone did. It was the dream of being happy for the rest of my life by doing what everyone else said life should be.

In America we have this idea of the "American Dream". It's the idea that you can live your life to the fullest and achieve whatever you set your mind to. The idea that everyone has the opportunity to thrive financially, emotionally, and physically, but is it realistic? It can be. Here's a shocker, thriving in all of those ways doesn't mirror happiness, and yet happiness is what the "American Dream" was based upon.

Anyone and everyone can be happy but, I believe that happiness is something that you come realize is simple. It comes in soooooo very many different forms. Family can bring you happiness. Friends can bring you happiness. Jobs, Education, Wealth... these can all exhort some form of happiness. Back to the simplicity of it, with all of those things bringing happiness to people a good question would be 'Why are so many people unhappy?' Most people become accustom to the feeling of happiness and then start searching for it. It's not that it's not right in front of them, it's that they have a hard time believing it.

Take Hollywood for example. You have multi-millionaire public figures, actors, and actresses, who work to earn the lifestyle that is identical to the image of the "American Dream" and yet they overdose, get DUI and OWI's, divorce over and over again, and sometimes go bankrupt.

Is happiness even noticed anymore? Or has it become a work of overworked thought? Simplifying it down to the idea that you can find it [happiness] everywhere, it's abundant in number, and yet it is priceless. That's what true happiness is.